Roland-Jones to make England Test debut

LONDON: Middlesex paceman Toby Roland-Jones will make his England Test debut against South Africa on Thursday (today) after Mark Wood was ruled out with injury, England captain Joe Root said on Wednesday.

Durham fast bowler Wood missed Wednesday’s final training session for the third Test with an ongoing heel problem that had troubled him in England’s 340-run defeat by South Africa in the second Test, a result that saw the Proteas level the four-match series at 1-1.“Wood is not 100 percent fit so he’s going to miss out this week and Toby Roland-Jones comes in for a debut,” Root told a press conference ahead of clash at The Oval.

Roland-Jones’s Middlesex colleague Steven Finn, a veteran of 36 Tests, has been called up as stand by in the event of any further injuries to England’s pace attack.

England will now field at least two debutants in what will be the 100th Test ever staged at The Oval, with Essex batsman Tom Westley previously selected in place of injured number three Gary Ballance.